Works › The Book on the Sacrifice of the Mass
Volume 38 · pp. 160–162
Chapter XXII. On the prayer which is said before communion at the altar
A marker with ≈ is an approximate page boundary, placed by measure of the text; the page photographs remain the authority. In the paired views, clicking a page marker brings that page into view.
CAPUT XXII.
De oratione quae dicitur ante communionem in altari.
1. Hoc facto, sacerdos perfector sanctitatis in oculis tenens Christum, antequam pro se et omnibus communicet, dicit hanc orationem: Domine, Jesu Christe, Fili Dei vivi, dirigens ad eum quem in manibus tenet et oculos et intentionem et orationem, notans obedientiam qua venit ad oblationem in ara crucis, in qua se pro omnibus obtulit, dicens: Qui ex voluntate Patris. Ad Philip. II, 8: Factus obediens, scilicet Patri, usque ad mortem, mortem autem crucis.
Cooperante Spiritu sancto, qui hanc hostiam in utero Virginis formavit. Luc. I, 35: Spiritus sanctus superveniet in te. Et iterum, Quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei. Matth. I, 20: Quod enim in ea natum est, de Spiritu sancto est.
Per mortem tuam potentissimam, sicut dicitur, Joan. X, 17 et 18: Quia ego pono animam meam, ut iterum sumam eam. Nemo tollit eam a me: sed ego pono eam a meipso.
Mundum peccatis mortuum, vivificasti. Psal. LXXIX, 19: Non discedimus a te, vivificabis nos. Osee, VI, 3: Vivificabit nos post duos dies, in die tertia suscitabit nos.
Libera me primum, et in me omnes alios. Joan. VIII, 36: Si vos filius liberaverit, vere liberi eritis.
Per hoc sacrosanctum corpus et sanguinem tuum, de quo dixisti, Joan. VI, 55: Qui manducat meam carnem, et bibit meum sanguinem, habet vitam aeternam: et ego resuscitabo eum in novissimo die.
Ab omnibus iniquitatibus meis, quae sunt mors animae, et universis malis, quae sunt mors corporis. Quod autem quidam libri hoc habent: "Et cogitationibus perversis," non est de littera: quia perversae cogitationes separant a Deo, ut supra, Sapient. I, 3, dicitur, et sub iniquitatibus continentur:
Et fac me, et meos pro quibus tibi offero, tuis semper inhaerere mandatis: quia obedientia generalis debet esse. Jacobi, II, 10: Quicumque totam legem servaverit, offendat autem in uno, factus est omnium reus.
Et numquam permittas, per donum perseverantiae, a te separari. Matth. XXIV, 13: Qui perseveraverit usque in finem, hic salvus erit.
CHAPTER XXII.
On the prayer which is said before communion at the altar.
1. When this has been done, the priest, the perfecter of sanctity, holding Christ in his eyes before he communicates for himself and for all, says this prayer: O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, directing both eyes and intention and prayer to him whom he holds in his hands, noting the obedience by which he came to the oblation on the altar of the cross, in which he offered himself for all, saying: Who by the will of the Father. Philippians 2:8: Made obedient, namely to the Father, unto death, even the death of the cross.
With the Holy Spirit cooperating, who formed this host in the womb of the Virgin. Luke 1:35: The Holy Spirit will come upon thee. And again: What will be born from thee as holy will be called the Son of God. Matthew 1:20: For what has been born in her is from the Holy Spirit.
Through thy most powerful death, as is said, John 10:17 and 18: Because I lay down my soul, that I may take it up again. No one takes it away from me; but I lay it down from myself.
Thou hast given life to the world dead in sins. Psalm 79:19: We shall not depart from thee; thou wilt give us life. Hosea 6:3: He will give us life after two days; on the third day he will raise us up.
Free me first, and in me all others. John 8:36: If the Son has freed you, you will be truly free.
Through this thy sacrosanct body and blood, of which thou saidst, John 6:55: He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life; and I shall raise him up on the last day.
From all my iniquities, which are the death of the soul, and from all evils, which are the death of the body. But the fact that certain books have this: "And from perverse thoughts," is not of the letter, because perverse thoughts separate from God, as above, Wisdom 1:3, is said, and are contained under iniquities.
And make me, and my own for whom I offer to thee, always adhere to thy mandates, because obedience ought to be general. James 2:10: Whoever has kept the whole law, but offends in one point, has become guilty of all.
And never permit me, through the gift of perseverance, to be separated from thee. Matthew 24:13: He who has persevered unto the end, this one will be saved.
Qui cum eodem Deo Patre et Spiritu sancto vivis et regnas Deus in saecula saeculorum. Amen.
2. Deinde secundum consuetudinem quarumdam Ecclesiarum sacerdos dicit hanc orationem 1: Corpus tuum, Domine, quod sumpsi, per sumptionem sacramentalem pro me et pro omnibus quibus illud obtuli, et calix sanguinis tui quem potavi, ex quo spiritui tuo communicavimus sacramentaliter, adhaereat visceribus meis, non corporalibus, sed spiritualibus: viae enim vitae animae dicuntur hic viscera, quae sunt intellectus et voluntatis et rationis et cogitationum et affectionum animae: cibus enim et potus animae est, ut dicit Ambrosius, et ideo in viis animae debet permanere, et sic de corporali et sacramentali sumptione manducatio fiat spiritualis, quia illa proficit ad salutem. Sacramentalem autem et corporalem sumptionem multi accipiunt ad damnationem. Unde, Joan. VI, 64: Verba quae ego locutus sum vobis, spiritus et vita sunt. Et non fuerat locutus nisi de sumptione sacramenti.
Et ideo sequitur: Et praesta: quia hoc non est in nobis perficere nisi tu dederis. Joan. XV, 3: Sine me nihil potestis facere.
Ut in me in interioribus vitalibus animae, non remaneat scelerum macula. Macula autem deturpatio imaginis animae ex peccato et reatu peccati causata, sicut dicimus maculosum esse denasatum vel monoculum. Unde, Ezechiel. XVI, 36 et seq., dicitur, quod amatores daemones animae praecidunt ei nasum et aures, et effodiunt oculos: quia privant visum luminis spiritualis a discretione divinae bonitatis, et auditum verborum Spiritus sancti in allocutione cordis. Has autem maculas delet et reparat ad pulchritudinem cibus et potus spiritualis. Unde dixit Agnes, sicut dicit Ambrosius: "Jam corpus ejus corpori meo sociatum est, et sanguis ejus ornavit genas meas."
Sic ergo nulla remaneat peccati macula, quem pura et sancta, hoc est, in se quidem pura immunitate omnis maculae, et sancta omnium virtutum plenitudine et puritatem et sanctitatem conferentia, receperunt ad intimorum penetrationem, sacramenta. Pluraliter dicit propter duas species elementales sacramenti. Hanc enim virtutem intima penetrandi habet sacramentum ex hoc quod est veritatis et verbi Dei sacramentum. De illo enim dicitur, ad Hebr. IV, 12 et 13: Vivus est sermo Dei, et efficax, et penetrabilior omni gladio ancipiti, et pertingens usque ad divisionem animae ac spiritus, compagum quoque ac medullarum, et discretor cogitationum et intentionum cordis. Et non est ulla creatura invisibilis in conspectu ejus. Sapient. VII, 24: Omnibus mobilibus mobilior est sapientia. Et ideo in sacramento penetrat ad intima.
Who with the same God the Father and the Holy Spirit livest and reignest, God, unto ages of ages. Amen.
2. Then, according to the custom of certain Churches, the priest says this prayer 1: Thy body, O Lord, which I have received through sacramental reception for myself and for all for whom I offered it, and the chalice of thy blood which I have drunk, from which we have sacramentally communicated with thy spirit, may it adhere to my inward parts, not bodily but spiritual; for the ways of the life of the soul are here called inward parts, which are the ways of intellect and will and reason and thoughts and affections of the soul. For it is food and drink of the soul, as Ambrose says, and therefore it ought to remain in the ways of the soul, and thus from bodily and sacramental reception let eating become spiritual, because that profits unto salvation. But many receive sacramental and bodily reception unto damnation. Hence, John 6:64: The words which I have spoken to you are spirit and life. And he had spoken only about the reception of the sacrament.
And therefore there follows: And grant, because it is not in us to perfect this unless thou givest it. John 15:3: Without me you can do nothing.
That in me, in the vital interiors of the soul, no stain of crimes may remain. But a stain is a defiling of the image of the soul caused by sin and the debt of sin, just as we say that one de-nosed or one-eyed is stained. Hence, Ezekiel 16:36 and following, it is said that demonic lovers of the soul cut off her nose and ears and dig out her eyes, because they deprive the sight of spiritual light from the discernment of divine goodness, and the hearing of the words of the Holy Spirit in the address of the heart. But spiritual food and drink erase these stains and restore to beauty. Hence Agnes said, as Ambrose says: "Now his body has been joined to my body, and his blood has adorned my cheeks."
Thus, therefore, may no stain of sin remain, whom the sacraments, pure and holy, that is, pure in themselves by immunity from every stain, and holy by fullness of all virtues and conferring purity and holiness, have received unto penetration of the innermost things. He speaks plurally because of the two elemental species of the sacrament. For the sacrament has this virtue of penetrating the inward parts from the fact that it is the sacrament of the truth and Word of God. For concerning him it is said, Hebrews 4:12 and 13: The word of God is living and efficacious, and more penetrating than every two-edged sword, and reaching even to the division of soul and spirit, and also of joints and marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And no creature is invisible in his sight. Wisdom 7:24: Wisdom is more mobile than all mobile things. And therefore in the sacrament it penetrates to the inward parts.
Hoc autem sacerdos dicit perfector sanctitatis pro se et pro omnibus aliis: quia quamvis ipse solus sacramentaliter communicet, tamen omnes alii ad hoc adsunt, quia debent spiritualiter communicare.
Qui vivis et regnas in saecula saeculorum. Amen. Hoc est expositum.
Deinde fere secundum omnes ordines Ecclesiarum dicit hanc orationem 2: Quod ore, sacramentali manducatione, sumpsimus, ego et omnis clerus et populus pro quibus ego sumpsi, pura, hoc est, depurata per fidem, mente capiamus. Act. XV, 9: Fide purificans corda eorum. Capiamus, inquam, ut vasa gratiae quae signantur per illud aureum vas in quo gomor mannatis reservatum est 3: in illo enim ad perpetuam rei memoriam manna custodiebatur. Et de munere, quod de tuo dono accepimus, temporali, quantum ad species visibiles et temporaliter mutabiles sacramenti, fiat nobis ad utilitatem nostram de gratiae tuae plenitudine. Joan. I, 16: Et de plenitudine ejus nos omnes accepimus, et gratiam pro gratia. Unde etiam sacramentum gratiae vas et Eucharistia vocatur: remedium, contra peccatum et inediam spiritualem, sempiternum, quia vegetat et nutrit ad gratiam sempiternam. Joan. VI, 59: Qui manducat hunc panem, vivet in aeternum.
Per eumdem Christum. Hoc est expositum.
But the priest, the perfecter of sanctity, says this for himself and for all others, because although he alone communicates sacramentally, nevertheless all others are present for this, because they ought to communicate spiritually.
Who livest and reignest unto ages of ages. Amen. This has been expounded.
Then, almost according to all the orders of the Churches, he says this prayer 2: What by mouth, by sacramental eating, we have received, I and all clergy and people for whom I have received, may we grasp with pure mind, that is, with mind purified through faith. Acts 15:9: Purifying their hearts by faith. Let us grasp, I say, as vessels of grace which are signified by that golden vessel in which a gomor of manna was reserved 3; for in it manna was kept for perpetual remembrance of the thing. And from the gift, which we have received from thy gift, temporal as to the visible and temporally mutable species of the sacrament, may it become for us unto our usefulness from the fullness of thy grace. John 1:16: And from his fullness we have all received, and grace for grace. Hence the sacrament is also called the vessel of grace and Eucharist: an eternal remedy against sin and spiritual hunger, because it makes alive and nourishes unto eternal grace. John 6:59: He who eats this bread will live forever.
Through the same Christ. This has been expounded.
Notes
- This prayer is said at the end of communion after the purification of the hands. After the prayer, O Lord Jesus Christ, Son of the living God, the prayer now said in the Roman Church is: The reception of thy body, which is not expounded here. (Dicitur haec oratio in fine communionis post purificationem manuum. Post orationem, Domine, Jesu Christe, Fili Dei vivi, dicitur nunc in Ecclesia romana oratio: Perceptio corporis tui, quae hic non exponitur.) ↩
- This prayer, What by mouth we have received, is now said before the preceding one, Thy body, etc. (Haec oratio Quod ore sumpsimus, nunc dicitur ante praecedentem, Corpus tuum, etc.) ↩
- Compare Exodus 16:32. (Cf. Exod. XVI, 32.) ↩
If a page does not appear, its photograph has not been uploaded yet.